Roy's December 2014 Launch report

HO! HO! HO! Welcome to Santa’s Christmas Rocket Launch Report. 

YES, we indeed have a rather better than we expected pre-Christmas rocket launch for all us good rocket boy and girls.

Saturday’s weather did start out rainy wet before 9am, we set up at 10:00 and the air was so dry that by 11:30 the grass was dry so nobody got wet feet from just walking around.

It was overcast with high clouds in the 40’s to upper 40’s but with almost no wind. Any real wind would have made it almost unbearable, but being active, hardly any wind, having the fire pit and Jason’s hot food it really turned out to be a great day to fly. (Some say that the engines burn better in cold air, more O2)

Sunday’s weather was forecasted to be better with sunny skies. Well it was better, it was drier, a little warmer but the high clouds were still there. There was more of a steady light breeze with periods of calm. Still great conditions to fly in.

 Jason Pettler has taken over the Hamburger and Hot Dog grilling and kept us fueled up.

Ken Allen of Performance Hobbies was there for both days (and plans to be here for our New Year’s Day Launch, weather providing of course.)

 Pictures. Check the Gallery for launch photo’s, sometimes with captions.

Remember, for our embarrassment and your entertainment, any pictures you have from this or any recent launch that you would like to get posted on the web site for everyone to see, just contact Doc Russell at:  rocketrycarolina "at" gmail "dot" com,  or as some have done, pass it on a disk, memory card or flash drive. We can always get it back to you. That’s how I do it.

 Saturday 20 December, 2014.

Like I said, the wind conditions were great, almost calm all day.

To emphasize the calmness we all know how Prof Doug Knight has his luck issues.

Well his “Tubular Terror” went up on a J415 to a very great height where the nose ejected but not the chute unfortunately, so it tumbled all the way down, not ballistic, and then landed to actually hit one of the legs of the very same launch pad. A rarity of its own, then…. his very large “Kiss My Grass” flying on a J600 with 5 chutes made a standing landing without any sway, tipping or pulling from the chutes, it just sat down as the chutes collapsed around it. A double rarity for one person in one day.

It was a day of short walks for everybody unless the rocket choose to go off on its own.

We had  20 fliers who put up 75 flights burning 77 engines.

That includes all clusters and multi-stage flights.

A’s= 10,  B’s= 11,  C’s= 29,  D’s= 5,  E’s= 9,  F’s= 5,  G’s= 2,  H’s= 2,  I’s= 1,  J’s= 3,

(Remember, what I write is influenced by the penmanship/spelling of the writer.)

Roy Potter. I flew my Orange and white “Test III” on a D12-3 and-5 and re-flew my Estes Pro-Series-II “Ascender” two stage version on a F15 to a E16-6 successfully. Last time the E16 blew and took part of the fin section out requiring rebuilding.

Tom Propst. Troop leader for Troop 91 from Concord flew a “Big Bertha” on a C6-5 and a “lil Fat Boy” on a A8-3.

The scouts flew their rockets in a A8-3,-B6-4,-C6-5 motor succession to demonstrate the increased efficiency of the motors to the rockets flight performance.

Some scouts flew additional flights after their required flights for their Badge Award.

Scout Ethan Briggs flew a “Estes Trail Blazer”.

Scout Tyler Dorton flew his scratch built “Hawk Eye and the “Don’t Blow Up” on a A3-3.

Scout Daylan Deal flew the “Red X”.

Scott Elliot flew a “Baby Bertha”.

Scout Hunter Elliot flew a Estes “Fat Boy” and the “Makers Mark” on mini A10-3’s.

Scout Josh Flanagan flew the “Alvan” and a Estes “Max Trax” on C6-5’s.

Scout Jay Cruise I think already has his badge. He flew the “Ghost” on a E9-6, a two stage “Mongoose” on a B6 to B6-4 and a “Lean Machine II” on a E9-6. Got the Rocket bug I think.

Scout David Cruise I think also has his badge. He flew a Estes one stage version of the  “Renegade” on a D12-5, a Estes “Mean Machine” on a E9-6, a “Black Dart” on a B6-4 and a “Space Interceptor” on a A8-3.

Craig Ryan flew the “First Flight” on a B4-2.

Jason Pettler. ROCC Membership officer and cook. He got time to fly his scale missile “Sea Wolf” on a I212-9 and the scale “Hawk 23B” on a H410vm, both straight flights.

Joe Pettler. Flew a Estes “Der Red Max” on C6-5’s and a Estes “Big Bertha” on a C6-5.

Matthew Stecker (I hope that’s right) is a new flier, but really getting a good start.

Most of his flights were the first for that rocket. He flew a Estes “Patriot” on a C6-7, a Estes “Big Bertha” on a C6-7 then on a Aero Tech-D10, a Estes “Tomahawk” flew on E9-6’s, a Estes pro-Series II “Argent” on a F52-8t and a Estes “Der Red Max” on a C6-7. Good flights all.

Devon Tomkinson flew a Estes Pro-Series II “Majestic” on Estes F15-8’s, a Estes “Big Daddy” on a E9-4 a Estes “Big Bertha” on a D12-5 and “Super Big Bertha” on a E9-4.

Kim Bergsmith flew a Estes “Pink Crayon” on a bunch of C6-5 flights.

John Bergsmith flew a large big bertha looking “Brighton” on a G76-5, the “Cow-a-Bunga” (Mad Cow?) on a H123 and a “Mega Mosquito” on a E9-4.

Ryan Bergsmith flew a “Gold Crayon” on C6-5’s, drag racing with his mom.

Doug Knight flew his “Tubular Trash” on a G131-7 cessaroni and as I described above, his “Tubular Terror” flew on a J425-8 cessaroni to land on its own launch pad, and the “Kiss My Grass” flew on a J600 cessaroni for a standing landing. Both actions are a rare event.

UNCC Rocket Team in the NASA SLI competition, mentored by Prof Doug Knight flew the (a Sub-Scale launch) “Roxanne” on a J415 with two altimeters and a Tender Descender, like “air break flaps” and to do a delayed tether separation from the two body sections with a separate chute each. Everything seemed to work OK but for the two chute lines to tangle and it all coming down on one chute.

Sunday 21 December, 2014.

A little bit warmer, still kept the cloud overcast but dry with a little breeze with periods of calm.

A slower day, a bit more laid back.

We had  18 fliers who put up 54 flights burning 54 engines.

That includes all clusters and multi-stage flights.

A’s= 2,  B’s= 1,  C’s= 14,  D’s= 4,  E’s= 9,  F’s= 10,  G’s= 7,  H’s= 4,  I’s= 2,  J’s= 0,  K’s= 1.

(Remember, what I write is influenced by the penmanship/spelling of the writer.)

Roy Potter. I flew my Aero-Tech “Red HV ARCAS” on a F42-4 for a great display of what a donut chute looks like. Some had questions to how a D-Chute works.

I now get to “Upgrade” two old rockets after they ended up making their last flights. The “Union Jack” with the British flag chute Kato’d with a E30-4 burning the inside and breaking a fin, luckily the chute was protected by the piston. My old Estes 4inch “V-2” sat on the pad “Chuffing” away at the fuel of a F24-4 so it failed to get sufficient altitude to deploy a chute before impacting. I think it looked very historically realistic. So of course Ken and I got together soon afterwards.

David Strunk flew a Pro-Series II over built “Leviathan” on a long burning H42-10 mellow yellow  and his up-scaled fiberglassed “Bigger Bertha” flew on a I100 with a good dual deployment at 500ft for the last flight of the day at 4:30.

Michael Strunk flew the same/different? “Leviathan” on a G57-9 and a “Baby Bertha” on a C6-5.

Doc Russell, hopefully feeling better after fighting the tail end of a cold, Flew his white primered “Nike Smoke” on a F20-7, His up-scaled Estes “Sprint” flew on a E12-6 and a E15-7 with his streamer return. His up-scaled Estes “Interceptor-E” flew on a E20-7 always looking so cool when under thrust, and a LOC “Weasel” flew on a F44-8.

Dave Popkin flew his “Rattler” on a CTI H123 Skidmark with a surprisingly close by streamer return. His “Mini Toy Box” flew on a CTI G80 Skidmark. Both were great and loud as always.

Chuck Bracey flew his LOC “Green Meanie Magg” on a H152-8 blue streak with a video camera. SMILE. His “Orioles Hustler” flew on a F85-8wt and a Pro-Series II “Leviathan” (seems to be a popular kit) flew on a G80-7 Skidmark. His “Rising Star” flew on a F30-6 also with a video camera to film us on its return.

Jason Pettler. He flew a big LOC “Cruiser” on a K401fj with a dual deployment supposed to go off at 500ft. But he discovered that it deployed the main at apogee due to connecting to the wrong post on the altimeter so it drifted behind the creek and luckily at the edge of the tree line within reach of the tree pole we have. And he came right across Johns Weasel. He also flew the “Black and Gold Carbon” rocket on a G118 with a successful dual deployment at 500ft.

Joe Pettler flew a Aero-Tech? “Tomahawk” on a F25-9w, a Estes “Der Red Max” on a C6-5 and a “Cosmo” on a E9-4.

Kaitlin Pettler flew her “Pink Summer” (mega mosquito) on a E9-6 and the “Freedom” on a C6-5.

Scott Pennington flew a Mars Snooper clone, the “Mars Snoop Dog” on a C6-5, the rebuilt “Nike Ajax” went from a cluster for three ‘D’s” to one F15-6 for a great flight. A old school “Bull Pup” went up on a E30-4, a Pro-Series II “Ascender” one stage version flew on a F15-6, the “Lil Pumpkin”, (for the color, not a fruit) flew on a C6-5, the “Lil Hulk” flew on a C6-5 and a extended Red, White and Blue “Maxi Magg” flew on a H140-7.

Stuart Samuels builds and flys the not so normal. You have to say that he is very creative. He got hold of a 3-D printer so said, “ why not print something that will fly?” He printed a “18mm Cone” like a pyramid but round. It flew first on a C6-5, kind of loopy-de-loop. The B6-4 was less loopy. The A8-3 almost straight, so thrust has something to do with its stability. A “12mm Cone” flew on a mini A3-3t, a little loopy. His “Bi-Oc” flew fine on a C6-3 and a “18mm Helix” flew on a C6-3. One was a “mono copter” and the other a printed sheet of paper on a flat foam sheet cut and glued to spin and lift under thrust.

Ralph Roberts flew his “East Side Thug” on a CTI G80 Skidmark, very nice, and his daughters “Amanda’s UFO” on a D12-0.

Todd Haring flew a 4inch “Patriot” on a I211 with a successful dual deployment at 500ft.

Brad Shea also pushed his imagination to fly a Nurf toy rocket. Penmanship was a challenge. The “Flet Del to Go”? flew on a D12-7 and the “Y. B. Square” flew on a C6-3 with a tumble and streamer recovery. I missed seeing those so I really don’t know how they went.

John Bergsmith flew the ‘Mozzie” (mega mosquito?) on a F40-7, a Estes “Patriot” on a D12-5, a rebuilt “V-2” from last month’s Kato flew on a E12-4 and a LOC “Weasel” on a G76-10 with a streamer recovery. It really disappeared, was spotted shortly, then nobody could see it. He really pretty much wrote it  off as the cost of the hobby, but when Jason Pettler went across the creek to find his big “Cruiser”, there it was. Lucky, lucky, lucky.

Kim Bergsmith flew the “Star” (the Flis-Kit Triskelion) on a C6-5 and the Pro Series II “Leviathan” on a G76-7.

Ryan Bergsmith flew his “Thunder Strike” on a D12-5, the Flis-Kit “Star” on a C6-5 and a Estes “Gold Crayon” on a C6-5.

Emily Bell came out with her father and really wanted to fly her Estes “Rip Tide” on a C6-5 with a little monkey ejected to drift down on its own chute. She was real pleased with the flight.

 Hope everyone had fun and will be looking forward to our next launch, till then, remember to keep your exhaust nozzles clear.

Roy. ROCC Sec.